Posts Tagged ‘Oregon’

For years Eugene, Oregon has been known as Track Town USA. Now they may want to change the city’s nickname to The Whitest City in America.

Embarrassingly, the City passed a resolution recently mandating its employees to receive training in how to speak to black people.

This year Eugene will host the US Olympic Track & Field Trials for the fourth time. The trials determine which American track athletes will go to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

The Trials are expected to attract about 17,000 people per day while injecting $16 to $18 million into the local economy.

When it comes to track history, Eugene, Oregon stands alone.

The University of Oregon is not only the home of legendary track star, Steve Prefontaine…

They are also the town where Nike founder, Phil Knight went to college.

What the city does NOT have is an African American population.

African Americans make up less than 2% of Eugene’s population. So, city officials have ordered their employees to undergo sensitivity training (to better relate to the hundreds of African Americans in town for the Olympic Trials.)

They’ve even formed an organization to help educate local townspeople on diversity. They’re called “Blacks on Track,” and are made up of 23 members. The group will work on how to make all athletes, especially those in the African American Community, feel at home. Member Betty Snowden says,

“We’ll let them know where they can get their services be it good soul food, a hair cut, or religious services. And that they feel welcome.”

The city’s attempt at political correctness has been met with scorn and derision from the Right and the Left.

A sampling:

Fox News has been gleefully running video of this story all day.

And the guy from blackentertainmentblog. com went so far as to call the people of Eugene, “You dumbass bastards.” Michael Vass was incredibly offended that people in Eugene feel that he needs a translator.

Before now, the University of Oregon was most famous as the location of the filming of the movie Animal House.

That would mean the most famous person ever to set foot on campus in Eugene is this guy:

The kids who attend school at the University of Oregon are now doomed to go through life with the label as the real life “The Whitest Kids You Know.”